


The Enemy of My Enemy

by ljlewis



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Love/Hate, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25237012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ljlewis/pseuds/ljlewis
Summary: General Armitage Hux has been taken prisoner by the Resistance. He's their only hope.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 13
Kudos: 53





	The Enemy of My Enemy

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in some sense plot-wise during/after the events of The Last Jedi, but this Hux doesn’t blow up planets in TFA. 
> 
> I’m also not anti-Reylo, but this is not a Reylo story. It does feature oblique references to them.
> 
> This is in no way canon compliant, obviously. Hux and Rey: a weird pairing? Maybe. But I couldn't not get this idea down. It's mostly inspired by the fact that I like Domhnall Gleeson, and the plot bunny that took hold of me and wouldn't let go.
> 
> I hope you like it!

DAY 72 OF CAPTIVITY

He was supposed to be the answer to their problems. 

Instead—she ground her staff into the scruffy metal flooring of the Millennium Falcon’s makeshift prisoner bay—he’d only been a headache. 

Caustic, spiteful, and infuriatingly strong-minded, she’d lost her patience with him about four sectors ago. Chewie and Finn were the only things keeping her from digging into the black depths of her mind and crushing him with it. Or simply chucking the wanker out into space. Either option would suit her just fine. 

Behind the bars, he adjusted his position on the old cot they’d dug out from beneath some floor panels. The days of futile interrogation weighed down on her.

No, he didn’t know Kylo Ren’s plan for the Unknown Regions. No, he didn’t understand why Ren had murdered Snoke. No, he’d never discussed occult Sith prophecy with Ren.

“Well what use _are_ you?” Rey had screamed at him two weeks ago. 

His icy eyes had scanned her, exposing for a moment an amusement buried beneath his sneer. “Maybe he’d negotiate a ransom for me? A trade of information?”

Rey had stormed out of the bay before firing her blaster at him. 

The one thing she and the First Order cretin could agree on? Rey’s mind flashed to the memory of Solo’s face as the lightsaber ignited inside of his torso. She pressed her mouth tight. They both hated, loathed, abhorred Kylo Ren. 

But to her dismay, if Ren’s lack of concern for his General was any indication, the feeling for Hux was mutual. 

Aboard the Finalizer, Rey couldn’t believe her luck when she’d stumbled upon Hux, sprawled on the floor unconscious in a nondescript control room. There was a vicious burn spanning his upper chest, left shoulder, and left ear. His cheek and eye were swollen. He was injured. He was vulnerable. She felt like a victor at the Hologame Table. She’d taken all of Ren’s health points.

Tending to her captor aboard the Falcon as Chewie flew them away undetected, her mind raced with the possibilities. Hux would be upset no doubt when he awoke in their custody, but he was ripe for conversion. She’d heard from Finn how little love was lost between the General and the leader of the Knights of Ren. Now, she had the first-hand proof. 

Hux would resist, but then he’d listen to reason. Surely, he wouldn’t protect the man who’d abused him and left him in such a state.

Now, Rey approached the cell and wrapped her hands around the bars, she felt hopeless. The wall of red-hot rage that surrounded Hux like a hive hit her full force. His mind couldn’t contain it or simply didn’t care to. He turned his head to look at her. 

Day and night she meditated on the mind of Armitage Hux. Where were his weaknesses? What were his desires? She surveyed him from the top of his bright head to the tips of his bare feet. She’d come to a single conclusion: revenge. His only goal was to make Kylo Ren suffer. If aiding the resistance didn’t result in the utmost amount of that, he wouldn’t budge. She could slip into his space and torture him—his eyes narrowed as if knowing her thoughts—but he would never buckle. 

For a brief, mad moment, she felt a flicker of pity in her chest. Imagine being so consumed with darkness that her whole existence centered on causing another person pain? Her focus fled and her heart fluttered. She shook her head. No, her hate of Kylo was different from his. She didn’t live to cause her enemy pain. Though sometimes she dreamt of flaying the man or mercilessly diving into his mind as he’d done to her, she’d never act on it. It wasn’t the Jedi way.

Across from her, Hux’s lips seemed to twitch upwards. She squared up against the prickle at the base of her spine. Rey cleared her throat. “You’re his Achilles’ Heel, you know. Information from you could destroy him. You’d be his undoing.”

“No,” he answered as he’d done countless times before. 

Her grip on the bars tightened. “You were his bloody General. You were privy to his conversations with Snoke. You _know_ something. Tell me. We can defeat Kylo Ren.”

“And let the Resistance deal with him?” Hux’s eyes flashed, his voice betraying more emotion than he’d ever done before. “No. He’d get more than he’d deserve.” 

“ _Are you fucking serious?_ ” Her blood boiled. Her face flamed. Her gaze flicked to the camera, Finn and Chewie watching in another room. Hux was refusing to help because they would treat Ren too fairly? Her anger skyrocketed and the metal beneath her hands wrenched and bent. 

Hux’s eyes widened. He’d never seen this side of her power before. Good. Let it make him afraid. Let it persuade him to change his mind. 

She moved to the cell door. Without breaking their stare, she thrust out her hand and flung it open. There was no need for her to physically touch it. 

Hux sat up straight. 

With another flick of her hand, she switched off the surveillance camera. She bolted the entrance to the makeshift prisoner bay shut.

He had the sense to hold up his hands in front of him. 

Rey strode into the cell. 

“What are you going to do? Hurt me? Like him?”

Her eyes lasered into him. “You’ve already admitted I’m too fair for that.” 

He studied her. “Then why are you in here?”

“Because insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result.” She moved closer, raising her hands. “Today, I’m trying something different.” 

Exhaling and letting everything else fall away, she dove. She’d done it enough in the silence of her room on the ship. Now, she was entering his mind directly. 

He fought her. There were walls. There was echoing silence. There was anger. 

Rey pushed. 

A room. There was a room. Voices. She felt him relent. If he was pulling back, the information probably wasn’t valuable, but she followed anyway. So far, it was all she had. 

The voices rose. “Why have you insisted on keeping this girl?”

She stepped into the memory. Hux was standing and speaking in what looked like one of the Finalizer’s many shiny, black rooms. His hat was on a desk. Across from him stood Kylo Ren. 

“Is she even a valuable member of the Resistance worth this risk?” Hux continued. “Bring her to the Supreme Leader at once. Let him decide what to do with her.” 

“No.” 

Behind them, Hux’s eyes moved over what she recognized to be her own lifeless form. As she stayed in his memory, more of his thoughts and self merged with her own. She could feel the stiff uniform on her body. She could inhale the sharp, antiseptic smell of the room. 

This was the first time Hux’d caught sight of her, and it surprised him. He took in her dark hair, her shape, her skin and high cheekbones. His eyes refocused on Ren, lip drawing up into his trademark sneer. A hunch tickled at the base of his skull. He could hardly believe it possible and yet. . . . “You can’t be serious.” 

“Leave.” Ren’s hulking form imposed on him. “I could crush you without so much as a wave of my finger.” 

Hux smirked. “So the evil Kylo Ren does have a heart.”

Gasping, Rey ripped herself away. It burned. Her body felt on fire. The Millennium Falcon rematerialized around her. Her heart pounded. She clutched one hand to her chest and the other to her mouth. 

A long, low chuckle sounded in front of her. “You really didn’t know?”

Rey’s eyes flickered to him. She tasted bile. 

“Didn’t you ever wonder why he never hurt a hair on your head?” Hux stared, eyes blazing. 

“You’re wrong,” she pressed out, voice raspy. “He tortured me. He broke into my mind.”

“You call that torture?” He gestured to the scar along his ear, healed but purple and pearly. “No. He’d do anything to protect his precious little scavenger.” 

She backed up. She slammed the door shut and righted the cell. She escaped to the solace of her room. No. It couldn’t be true. Hux must be trying to trick her. 

* * *

DAY 77

She’d spent more hours in meditation than she’d ever done. It was what Luke would’ve advised. It’s what Leia continued to advise. She searched her feelings. She replayed the brief, painful interactions she’d shared with her enemy. She recalled the face beneath his mask. The way his dark eyes traced slowly over her person. 

Her eyes popped open. What if Hux was right?

A voice from the ether seemed to call out to her. If he was right, how could she use it to their advantage?

She moved from meditating to pacing. She spent too long thinking in the fresher. Chewie complained that they would need to stop and replenish enough to wash an entire battalion if she kept it up. Finn sat with her during meals and didn’t pry. He was just there, her constant support. 

The kernel of an idea began to form in her brain. An awful, terrible idea. 

Finn patted her shoulder. “I know Hux has been frustrating. But if anyone can break him, it’s you, Rey. He could still be the key.”

The thunk of resolve chilled her core. Awful, terrible idea it was.

* * *

DAY 80

He hadn’t seen the scavenger or another soul for over a week. 

He stepped out of the fresher and pulled on the rags provided to him by his enemy on Ren’s traitor father’s ship. 

When he’d come to beneath the hands of the scavenger, he’d tried to leap off the table and throttle her. The attempt had died in his head. He’d been weak. The memory of Ren’s blade slicing through his skin had ignited pain all across his left side. 

Strong, insistent hands pressed down on him. “We won’t hurt you,” she’d said. “We’ve patched up your wounds.” 

He’d closed his eyes, defeat flooding him. It was over. Snoke was dead. He was captured. Ren would win. 

In a twisted way, battling against the scavenger ever since had been entertaining. It was the only thing that passed the time in between attempting to stay fit in this cell and reading the few books he’d been lent. 

She was everything Ren was not. She was fair. She was patient. She was stable. She never unleashed her full power on him. He’d begun to doubt she was even gifted with the force until a week ago when she’d bent the bars of his cell as if they were paper. When, despite his years of fortifying his might against the Jedi freaks, she’d needled her way into his mind within seconds. 

He scowled. The stupid, meddlesome scavenger. 

The door to the bay opened, and he sat up. 

Speak of the devil. She stepped into the room, and his shoulders tensed. She looked different today. Her now longer hair wasn’t tied back, but smoothed down her neck. It looked shiny as if it were damp from her own time in the fresher. The thought crawled over his skin.

She drew up to the bars on a stool. “Were you showing me the truth?”

The memory. He’d tried not to dwell on her time inside his head. She’d found a scene that he’d believed harmless enough. It was exactly as he’d recalled it, the moment he’d learned Ren’s weakness when it came to the scavenger. 

If her reaction was anything to go by, she’d spent the past week getting sick by the thought of it. Some part of him was relieved. If it turned out she and Kylo Ren were some fucked up iteration of star crossed lovers, he would’ve emptied the contents of his own stomach for the rest of time. It would be just his luck that his sadistic, man-child overlord enjoyed romance along with his totalitarian rule.

Her dark eyes bored into him. Did it really matter if she knew the truth about this? “Yes,” he answered.

Her eyes closed, expression falling. They opened again. “Okay. Thank you for telling me.”

He froze. She was _thanking_ him? What the hell was he supposed to do with that? “I’m not trying to help you.” 

“I know.” She stood. She started to pace. “But you may have anyway.”

His chest clenched. No. He wouldn’t help the Resistance. Being without the scavenger and irrational with pain and power, Ren lived in torment and misery. The Resistance’s victory would change all that. They would save him from himself. It was the last thing Ren deserved. Hux stood. How in the hell could Ren’s stupid crush bring any of that about?

“Ren’s weakness is his instability,” she said. “The more unstable he is, the more vulnerable. However, he’s systematically eliminated his triggers one by one: his father, his uncle, Snoke.” Her gaze fell on him. “You unintentionally.” 

He scowled.

“What’s Ren’s ultimate desire?” She stilled. “To rule the galaxy and fulfill Vader’s legacy.” She swallowed, expression turning sour. “And . . . and me. By his side. He proposed as much the last time I saw him on the Finalizer. He asked me to rule with him.” She paced again. “I didn’t understand the full implications until your memory.”

Hux scoffed. Ren had offered the scavenger the opportunity to rule the galaxy together? Pitiful. Sentimentality was the death of reason. His bloody overlord was weaker than he’d thought.

“He is Supreme Leader now, but he’s still untethered.” Her shoulders slumped. “It’s because he doesn’t have his final prize.” 

“You’re going to dangle it in front of him then?” Hux drawled. “The promise of you will draw sniveling Ben Solo in?”

“No.” She grabbed onto the bars. “I’ve already rejected him. Won’t it seem a tad convenient if I suddenly arrive and offer my hand?”

Hux crossed his arms. 

“It has to be something completely unexpected and unforeseen. Something that will make him lose his footing.” 

“You could die.” He smirked. “You could give up. You could find your own Resistance co-leader and start your own little Second Order.” 

She glared at him. “Yes. Maybe my own partner is exactly what I need.”

A pit developed in his belly. He had a bad feeling about this. 

“I’m unattached. There’s still the possibility that he could have me and that I’d be his alone. If he fully eliminates the Resistance and finds me, I’d be caught by him. I’d be trapped.” She exhaled. “But being someone else’s . . . his egomania doesn’t believe that possible. It would undo him.”

The might of Ren’s rage snaked up his spine. Fear: cold, paralyzing fear. It had been a long time since he’d felt it. He hadn’t realized, but he’d gained some semblance of security on board the Falcon with the scavenger and her grizzled dog and the other traitor scum. He turned away from her. “It would unleash him.” 

“Exactly. He’d be angrier than ever, but that’s to our advantage.” She tapped her hand against a bar. “It would torture him, Hux. It would eat away at him. It would be exactly what you want.” 

Would it? He returned to his cot and sat. He did want Ren tortured, but he also wanted him dead. He wanted to be the one to swing the blade. “He’d simply kill the other man.”

“Not if I killed him first.”

Hux looked at her. The room seemed to crackle with energy. His exchanges with Ren, the man’s irrational protectiveness of the worthless scavenger girl bit at his consciousness. Each day, Hux’d realized just how much Rey was Ren’s secret obsession. Seeing her with another man would eat away at him like nothing else. He could just imagine his first reaction to seeing the scavenger wrapped up with some man. . . . The ghost of a smile reached his lips. It would be an adequate beginning to the karmic retribution Hux had planned. 

He looked at the scavenger and frowned. But, her conscience was strong. There was too much light in her. He ran a hand through his hair, breaking eye contact as he felt her presence poke at his thoughts. 

“Even when we catch him and afford him the justice of our laws, he’d have to live with the knowledge forever that he can’t have me. He’ll lose his empire and his chance for human connection all at once.” 

“I understand, scavenger. You don’t have to spell it out for me,” he drawled. 

The girl’s eyes grew wide. She was good, but she also really wanted to win. 

So did he. He’d spent the last three hundred and eighty five days formulating a way to hurt Ren, but he’d failed. Now pulled out of the fray, he was useless. Attempts to manipulate the girl into harming Ren had proved pointless. His gaze hung on hers. Maybe this harebrained idea was a gift: hurt Ren and please his captor with information on Ren’s obsession. It gained more merit by the moment. 

“Trust me. I’m not fond of the idea of formally and duplicitously uniting with a man, but if that’s what it takes to end the First Order, I will do it.”

“You’d have a Unity Ceremony?”

“Yes.” She sniffed. “It must look as real as possible.”

This was more dedication than even he’d expected. “Well, you seem to believe this scheme is worthy of a shot. Do it. I agree it might succeed and cause Ren more pain in the long run. And”—happy thought—“you won’t need to pester me so much anymore. I’ll reveal all about Ren’s irrational feelings.” 

A strange, strangled sound escaped her. 

The pit in his belly grew. “Is something amusing?”

She shook her head. “You really don’t see what I’m proposing?”

“I really do.” He stood. “And now I’m bored of it. Please leave me in peace.” 

“It has to be a union that will startle him the _most_ , . . . General.” 

His brows rose to his hairline. _General_ ? “What are you playing at?” He approached the bars and looked at her down the length of his nose. “Don’t pretend to respect me. It seems a _tad convenient_ for you to start now.” 

“I’ve meditated on it for days and keep arriving at the same solution. Who is the one person in the entire universe whom I could tie myself to that would infuriate Ren the most?”

Hux stepped back. He tripped and landed hard on the cot. It jostled him. It jostled the very brain inside of his skull. There was no way she was implying what he was inferring. This had to be some sick ploy to vex him, to wear him down until she could probe his mind again. “You’re not serious.”

“I am.” Her cheeks tinged pink, but her gaze stayed steady. “If you’re serious about having your revenge on Kylo Ren, you’ll see there’s no other way.” With that, she departed and left him slack-jawed and nonplussed on the edge of his rickety cot.

* * *

DAY 82

She felt nervous. With a final twist, she secured the braid at the base of her head. She looked down at her simple linen shift. It was unnatural for her to spare a thought on her appearance. This was all make-believe anyway. Did she honestly think he’d be more enticed to participate if he found her looks pleasing?

With a noise of frustration, she stalked out of her room and towards the prison bay. 

Hux sat on his cot hunched over a book she knew he’d read at least twice before. He didn’t acknowledge her entrance. 

She pulled up her stool and sat. Still nothing. With a sigh, she stood, raised the stool with a move of her hand, and flung it against the bars. 

Hux threw down his book. “And good morning to you too.” 

“See?” She replaced the stool and sank down onto it. “Was that so hard? To display a modicum of human decency?”

“My apologies. I’m just playing hard to get, . . . darling.” 

Her throat seized up for a moment. She shook it off. “You’ve accepted then?”

“Your ludicrous plan that we unite as husband and wife in the hopes of tormenting Kylo Ren into anguish and error?”

She nodded. 

“Nope.” He opened his book and resumed reading. 

She physically bit down on her tongue. It’s like he wanted her to hurt him. 

“What?” He dropped his book. “No wave of your hand and a ‘You will happily agree to be my husband and live with me as man and wife’?”

She rolled her eyes. Then, she smirked and waved her hand. “You will happily agree to be my husband and live with me as man and wife.” 

His lips twitched the tiniest bit. 

“This is about war, Hux.” She stood. “Aren’t you a General?”

“I commanded a fleet of elite star destroyers. I didn’t concoct fake relationships to play with the emotions of the opposing party.” 

“Then you’re just a boy with toys and no imagination.” 

He scoffed. “You’re insane.” 

“I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to win.” Her expression morphed into disgust. She’d been trying so hard to remain calm, to be civil. He was just so damn stubborn and infuriating. “But I see you don’t have the stomach for it. No shock there seeing your fate with the First Order. It’s no wonder I found you beaten and discarded like a mere piece of space junk.” 

“Fuck you, scavenger. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“We’re returning to the Resistance base on Crait in three days.” She moved to exit. “The Unity Ceremony needs to be completed by that time with a holo announcement. From then on, we’d have to conduct ourselves in the fashion of man and wife.”

He said nothing. 

“You’d be afforded special privileges as my partner if that’s what you’re worried about. After we defeat Ren and the First Order, a tribunal will review your crimes. If you’re not found guilty of an Indefensible, you’d most likely go free with parole. You’d never have to see me or any of us traitorous scum again.”

“We’d have a Dissolution Agreement?” His head perked up.

“Obviously.” She gestured. “You think I’d have any desire to remain with you a second longer than necessary?”

He clenched his jaw. 

She wanted to stomp her foot. Why was he being so willfully blind? “There’s nothing for you to lose. You’d be out of a cell. You’d enact the best kind of revenge on your worst enemy. You’d have a lighter punishment and possible freedom when it’s all over.” 

His eyes rolled over her, cold and sharp. “You’d do that? Just to save your precious Resistance?”

“I’d do almost anything to defeat the Sith and protect the people of the galaxies.” She softened her voice. Memories and presences whispered around her. Luke, Han, her parents. She searched her feelings. She reached out for the guidance to do the right thing, to say the right thing. “I didn’t ask for this, Hux, but it’s been given to me. It’s my duty to defeat the enemy.” She swallowed. “To defeat _our_ enemy. The burden has been placed on your shoulders too. I can’t do it alone.” 

His eyes shifted. His fists unclenched. He exhaled. “Fine.”

She stopped her mouth from dropping. 

“I’ll do it.” 

* * *

DAY 84

Hux eyed the Wookie. “You’re certain this is legally binding? This _creature_ doesn’t even speak the Empire’s tongue.”

It took every ounce of her willpower not to pummel him. “I’m sorry you were never civilized enough to become fluent in multiple languages.” 

Hux stalked away to the other end of the Main Hold while Rey wrung her hands together. This may be the stupidest idea she’d ever had. 

Finn fussed with her hair, pinning in another couple flowers they’d picked up on their most recent replenishing stop. He’d insisted the ceremony look as authentic as possible, down to the outfits, the food, and the decor. “When people see this holo, they have to instantly know what it depicts without even the sound, Rey. The image of you looking like this and holding hands with him will leave no doubt.” 

Personally, she’d been clueless. She’d never attended a ceremony or seen one in her entire life. Hux, sulking by the Hologame Table in his heavy black cloak, seemed more well-versed in the custom and only balked once at putting on the formalwear. 

She didn’t have a second to spare worrying about flowers or cake. She’d been poring over texts explaining the ancient rites of the Unity Ceremony. After securing his agreement, she’d kept waking up in a full flop sweat. She’d honed her Jedi abilities, but she wasn’t invulnerable. Hux could be dangerous, and she’d saddled him to her for the foreseeable future. He’d sleep by her—she shivered—and she couldn’t survive for months without being able to let her guard down and relax into rest.

The thick tomes had droned on about the moment of unity as she searched for what she needed. How was the Force involved? How could she ensure her protection?

Early this morning, she’d found it. Her hand shook as she’d scribbled the crucial words to be said in their vows and by the officiant. 

Finn smiled. “There. You look beautiful.” 

She tried to smile back, but it was more grimace. “Thank you.” A pang struck her chest. This was her Unity Day. She bit her lip. She never imagined she’d have one. If she ever bowed to such a tradition, she’d only have done it for real. To profess her commitment to someone of her choice for the rest of her life in front of all of the people she loved. 

Her eyes found his form across the room. Her whole life, since Finn and BB8 had dropped in on her, hadn’t gone remotely to plan. 

“Rey.” Finn moved closer. “Can I give you away?”

Usually it was the role of the father. The pang in her chest sharpened. If this were her real Unity Day, there’d be no one better to fill the spot than Finn. “Yes.” She hugged him. “Am I making a big mistake?"

“No.” He rubbed her back. “This is just another move in the war. You’re in control.”

She stepped back. Right. It was a war, and she would be the winner. “Let’s do this.”

Finn found some strange instrumental music that played as she approached Chewie and her groom. The filming started as soon as she began her walk down the “aisle” that ended just to the right of the Technical Station. It would be broadcast to the galaxy as soon as Finn edited it and uploaded it once they were safely on Crait. 

Rey fixed a smile on her face. This may be her biggest challenge to date. Scarier than crossing sabers with Kylo Ren: pretending she was in love with Armitage Hux. 

Risking her mask cracking, she met his eyes. It was unnerving. His stance was different, open. His cool eyes managed to convey nothing but warmth. He looked like a man eagerly awaiting the arrival of his wife. Her pulse lodged in her throat. 

Finn kissed her cheek and placed her hands into Hux’s. They were surprisingly warm and dry. 

Chewie began the opening remarks. She’d look at Hux but keep looking down to take minibreaks of panic and respite. She tried to play them off as coyness. She wasn’t sure if she succeeded. 

The vows arrived and a new tension entered the Hold. This was the moment of unity. This was the moment when an ancient Jedi magic would bind them together and also, thanks to her additions, keep them safe from each other. He couldn’t harm her, and she couldn’t harm him. His grip on her hands increased. 

With a calm, clipped voice, he repeated Chewie’s words in perfect Shyriiwook. Her brows rose. Hux’s shot up in reply.

She spoke the vows and a strange warmth entered her chest. Judging from Hux’s expression, he felt it too. 

Chewie smiled. So did Finn. So did she. Even Hux joined in.

Then, it was time for the moment: the kiss. The most important thing for selling their fairytale faux-mance to the world. Her heart began to thunder. It wasn’t that Rey hadn’t done her share of kissing, but it had been . . . a while.

When she’d brought up the significance of it with Hux, he’d oozed disdain and superiority. “Simply kiss traitorous scum to enact vengeance on my enemy? I think I can manage it.” 

With expectant eyes on them, Hux made good on his words. It felt like he put all of his pent up rage and hate of Kylo Ren into the meeting of his lips with hers. He smelled remarkably normal and human, like the generic brand of man soap in all the freshers. His hands cupped gently around her jaw. He started slow, and she hated the slight tremble of her lips against his. She knew he felt it. The kiss grew languid, and her mouth relaxed. He tasted like mint. She began to join in. Her hands rose to touch him, almost floating of their own accord. She emptied her mind, forgot the history of the man on the other end. She was just sensation. The pressure of his mouth grew as he slid his tongue along her lips. A whir of awareness shot straight to her chest and through her torso. She opened her mouth and met him there. They were straight up making out in front of Finn and Chewie and soon the entire galaxy. Somewhere Luke must be watching. What the hell would he make of all of this?

After what felt like an inappropriate amount of time, his arms slackened and he released her. Her head rushed, and his hands steadied on her hips. 

Chewie announced them officially unified as husband and wife. 

Finn looked like he was holding in the world’s loudest scream. 

Hux’s hand found hers. He raised it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. His face transformed for just a moment from doting husband to open opponent. “How fast can I dance, eat cake, and get the bloody hell away from you?”

She smiled, somewhat comforted by his sameness and amused by the cognitive dissonance of it all. “Not faster than me I bet.” 

His eyes shone with what may have been admiration, but it was probably just a trick of the light.

* * *

DAY 85

Their long reception to the shocked Resistance masses on Crait was hell. Scum practically accosted him from all sides. How did Rey turn him? How did he realize he had feelings for her? Who made the first move? 

When Rey overheard him describing that he’d embroidered her a love letter out of the fabric from his First Order uniform, she’d yanked his arm and excused them to their room. 

He flopped on the bed, headache raging between his eyes and at his temples. “Those people are fucking terrible.” 

She threw off her fancy cloak and rubbed the base of her skull. “Those terrible people are keeping us safe. And just who knew you had such an active imagination? An embroidered love poem?”

He smirked. “I’m giving the people what they want. It will drive Ren mad.” 

“Yes.” Her fingers fiddled with a button on her smart blouse. This was the second time she’d dressed up since he’d met her. The top nipped in at her waist, and the trousers accentuated the curves of her—he shook his head. What the fuck was he thinking?

Rey left the bedroom for the bathroom. He heard the fresher turn on. The traitor Finn was set to release their ceremony video tonight. He stared up at the ceiling. If only he could be a fly on the wall of the Finalizer. 

By the time his wife finally emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam and in a full, long set of pajamas, his headache had grown. She skirted around the bed in the cramped space before getting under the covers. 

He stood. “Did you manage to save any hot water for your husband?”

“Crait has a natural hot spring. Knock yourself out.” 

“Right.” He put his hands on his hips, his gaze scrutinizing the space. “As their de facto Jedi savior, shouldn’t you be afforded nicer accommodations? Where are the high ceilings and polished marble floors? I mean”—he kicked off his boots—“this is meant to be your bloody honeymoon.”

She exhaled, posture held in the position that told him she was on the last dregs of her patience with his antics. “This is the Resistance, Hux. We’re bloody poor. We’re not about creature comforts and luxury speeders. We’re about freedom.” 

He grumbled about freedom as he disappeared into the bathroom. 

Two hours later, he lay annoyed and awake on the too hard bed. Rey was a statue. He knew sleep escaped her too. “I’m not an idiot, you know.” He spoke into the dark. He felt her startle. “I definitely know more about the nuances of the Unity Ceremony than you. Did you not think I’d realize you’d place some sort of restraint on me?” She stayed quiet. “I know I’m unable to harm you. I’m still as good as your prisoner.”

Rey’s breathing betrayed her. “Can you blame me? I wasn’t about to voluntarily share a bed with my enemy without some sort of insurance.”

“ _The enemy of your enemy._ ” 

“Whatever.” She flipped onto her side. 

He slipped into sleep. 

Screaming. Someone was screaming. He shot up. It was Rey. He reached out and shook her. She was sweaty. Her hair stuck to her neck and forehead. He brushed it back. “Rey, wake up! You’ll rouse the entire base.” 

Her limp form animated. She gripped onto the front of his shirt. “It’s him. It’s him.” 

“Who?”

“Ren. He was in my head. He was here.” 

Her heart was beating so hard that he could feel it pounding through her back. She was terrified. Fear moved up through his chest—the memory of Ren’s blade, of his power—“He’s tricking you, playing games. You’re safe. We’re alone in this room.” He turned on the lamp. “See.”

She blinked. “I know.” She shook her head. “I know it’s just us in here.” 

He watched her. 

She smoothed her hands over her head. She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. “He’s seen the video. He knows.”

Ice shot through his chest. “You can’t know that.” 

“I can.” She lowered her eyes, voice growing soft. “There’s a bridge between us. I’ve been able to close it off for a while, but he broke through tonight.”

“What do you mean a bridge?”

“It’s a force-bond. I read a lot about it after we escaped with you. Two powerful force-users can communicate, almost telepathically, through the force. For weeks, he’d been reaching out to me.” She shivered. “It was so real, as if we were actually together. Sometimes, I could see exactly where he was, and he could see my location too. I could smell the Finalizer. I could feel it.” She pressed fingers to her cheek as if wiping something away. 

The fear in his chest strengthened. “Does he know where we are?”

“No, it was pitch black in here.” She laughed, a quiet, mirthless thing. “He demanded to see you. He’d wanted to catch—” she swallowed. “He wanted to catch. . .” Her face flamed. “He wanted to see proof that it was true.” 

“Me fucking you, then?”

“Shit, Hux.” She stood and stomped to the bathroom. The fresher turned on again. She had quite a fixation with it. It must have to do with growing up in the desert. 

He lay down again, pulse beginning to level out. So, Ren knew. He was just as livid as Hux had predicted. And, this bridge: he squeezed his eyes shut. It was certainly an unpleasant development. He’d have to help her keep it closed. 

His lids grew heavy. The sound of the water falling eased his mind. 

The most unpleasant development? The sudden, brief swell of his own possessiveness. 

* * *

DAY 90

“Do the pose right now or so help me,” she hissed through clenched teeth. 

Hux’s arm clamped tighter around her lower back. It travelled lower.

She kicked at his shin. 

His head whipped away from the camera to face her. “Ow.” His crazed smile showed off his perfectly straight and perfectly white teeth. 

“Watch your hands.”

“Just playing the part, darling. We are newlyweds.”

The photographer snapped away. “How about a kiss?”

Rey’s hands began insta-sweating. 

Hux smirked. “Yes, darling. How’s about a kiss?”

Her face was smiling so hard that it might split. “You’re actually deranged. How can the thought of a kiss with me make you gleeful?”

He moved into her personal space. “It’s how the kiss will affect him.” His lips brushed up against hers. They hadn’t been forced into performative intimacy since the ceremony. Her insides felt funny. “And making you sweat is just a bonus.” He kissed her again, full on this time. 

The same cool calm from the ceremony descended on her. When feeling him, everything else fell away. Ren knocking at her consciousness, Leia looking for answers, everyone wanting a piece of her. He finished the kiss, but she went back in for one more piece of peace. His mouth jumped with surprise. She smiled for real this time. 

“Now—” the photographer pulled out a holoprojector. “I don’t know if you two lovebirds have watched this yet, but I have your Unity Ceremony holo here.”

“Oh what a delight.” Hux rubbed his hand along her back. “Isn’t that just the tits, darling?”

Rey choked back a snort. The _tits_? What the fuck was he on? 

The photographer looked gobsmacked. 

“He’s from the Corellian sector. They have the most bizarre expressions there—” she waved her hand. “I’ve grown used to it now.” She snuck an elbow jab into Hux’s stomach. 

“Oomph.” 

“What were you saying about this holo?”

“Oh yes.” The photographer queued it up. “I’d like your reactions to the ceremony. It’s captured the galaxies’ imagination. I—” she blushed. “I don’t think I’ve even seen something more romantic. Your thoughts would fit just smashingly with my article.”

“And”—Hux had irritatingly recovered from her jab—“what was the title for the article again, Tala?”

“Oh it’s ‘The Turncoat and His True Love.’”

His eyes collided with Rey’s. “‘The Turncoat and His True Love.’ Have you ever heard anything more fitting?”

“Never. Please, play the holo, Tala. We’re so anxious to relive the day.” Committing mariticide would probably not go unnoticed.

The strange music sounded. Finn’s editing was fantastic. He’d caught all the most authentic moments of her smiles and made her bouts of panic look like shyness. Hux’s eyes seemed to simmer with heat. His look scorched down the back of her dress and up the front. When the kiss arrived, Rey squirmed. It truly had been a straight up make out. She wanted to bury her face in her hands. The entire universe had seen this by now. 

Moments of the force-bond with Ren flashed back to her. 

“Is it true?” His voice boomed. He was outside his fresher, shirtless again. 

Icy cold fear shot into her veins. “I’m leaving. I closed the door on you. I never want to see you this way again.” 

“Is! It! True!” He cried. Spittle flew out of his mouth. 

“Yes!” She screamed back. “I am united with Armitage Hux. He is mine, and I am his for all eternity. You should’ve fought to rescue your General, you monster. If you had, I wouldn’t have had all that time to get to know him, to talk to him.” She drew herself up. “To love him.” 

“That insubordinate fuck is half the man I am. He can’t handle you.” 

“No.” Rey forced out. “He is twice the man.” Her resolve grew. “He chose the light. He chose to do the right thing.”

Ren’s face seemed to explode with rage. “I’LL KILL HIM!”

The feel of hands began squeezing around her neck. 

“I’LL KILL HIM! I’LL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU BOTH AND—”

“Rey?”

She shook her head, Hux’s bright blue eyes staring at her. Mercifully, along with the hologram, the memory had ended. “Yes?”

“Are you alright? Tala was just asking about your thoughts on the cake?”

“Cake. Right.” Rey straightened. “Sorry. Yes, so the cake—”

“I’m so sorry, Tala.” Hux’s arm returned to her back. “My wife hasn’t been feeling well, and I worry this day has overextended her.”

“Oh no! That’s the last thing I’d want to do. I’m the one who’s sorry. I would never want to put Rey at risk.” 

“Of course you wouldn’t.” He pulled a sympathetic face. “She is the last hope for the light and all that.” 

Rey shot him a look. 

“You wouldn’t be terribly upset if we ended it here?”

“Absolutely not. You two go. Rest up. I have everything I need.” 

Back in their room, he collapsed onto their bed. It was one of his favorite things to do she’d noticed. “Thank fuck that’s over. Another question about your beauty, and I would’ve slammed my head into a wall.” 

“Right.” She couldn’t lie still. She needed to move, to run. 

“Rey?”

Her eyes flew to him. When they were alone, he never used her name. 

“Are you alright with everything? With the Ren-bridge? You seemed lost back there.”

“I’m fine.” She shrugged. “I was just remembering, but I’m fine.” 

“Alright.” He looked anything but convinced. “Why don’t you take a load off? Hop in the fresher?”

She drew her saber and her training remote. First, she needed to fight; then, she’d hit the fresher. 

Hux pulled out a book and muttered, “Or pretend to slice off Kylo Ren’s head.” 

* * *

DAY 95

Waking up was becoming a problem. He was a cuddler, but the most recent Cuddle Event had been almost half a decade ago. Women since didn’t spend the night. He’d never imagined the habit would still plague him. 

He and Rey would fall asleep with a meter between them. Though the room was tiny, they’d packed in a spacious—though rock hard—bed. In the morning, however, he’d be plastered against her back, his lap snug right up against her arse. 

The first time she’d leapt out of bed and left the whole thing unmentioned. 

The second time she’d leapt out of bed and glared at him. 

He awoke and inhaled a mouthful of her hair. He was annoyed to discover it was still both soft and nice-smelling. Fuck. He was cuddling her. Despite the mound of pillows he’d placed between them last night after she’d fallen asleep. 

This time, the fourth time, she swivelled her head to face him with a raised brow. “Hux, why am I snuggled up against you?”

He moved away, relinquishing her. “I was asleep. I can’t be held responsible.”

Her brow raised farther. 

“Well, I don’t see you putting up much of a fight. It takes two to tango.”

“I was also asleep! And, you’re on my side of the bed.” 

“Fine.” He stood and gesticulated. “I’m a cuddler. My apologies.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me before? Is there no way to . . . avoid it?”

He looked to the ceiling. “Blimey, woman. I’m unconscious. I have no knowledge of my body migrating over to yours.”

“That’s convenient.”

“Hey, if Kylo ever creeps back into your head, he’ll see us all pressed up against each other. It’s a safety measure.”

She crossed her arms. “Hmmm.” She leaned back against the headboard. “I suppose that’s one sort of silver lining.”

“Trust me, it is in no way me ‘having a go—’”

Her eyes bugged out.

“—forget it.”

Her lips tugged upwards. Her eyes relaxed. “Oh. I see.” 

“No.” He moved towards her. “No, no, no. There’s nothing to see. I’m—”

Her grin broke free.

“I’m not having this conversation. Is there a place to fire blasters in this fore-fucking-saken slum-base?”

Rey quirked her head to the side. “Want to train with me?”

“With the saber?”

“Yeah and Finn and Poe. There’ll be blasters there too.” 

Blasters she said? “Yeah. I could be amenable to that.” 

“I thought so.” 

“I’ll try to keep my cock and balls away from your arse, too.”

“ _Hux_!”

* * *

DAY 102

It had been over a fortnight on Crait, so it was time to move. 

Hux ascended the worn, familiar ramp. “Back on the Falcon. Back to my old haunts, eh Chewie?”

The Wookie shouldered him violently out of the way. 

“He likes you.” Finn eyed him. 

Hux rubbed his arm. “Clearly.” 

“Look.” Finn stepped closer. “You’ve done a good job holding up your part of the bargain.”

Oh great. He was about to get the Big Brother Speech from the trooper defector that he’d just begun to tolerate. Though, Hux realized, they were both traitors now. 

“I know Rey’s got her Jedi voodoo to keep her safe from you, but. . . .” He shook his head. “She’s just a person. This larger-than-life world was shoved into her story, but at heart she’s a scavenger from Jakku.”

“Trust me. I’ve never seen her as anything but.”

“I know.” Finn’s look was cutting. “That’s what worries me.”

“Boys?” Rey appeared up the ramp, pack slung on her shoulder and staff in her hand. “Are we about ready to lift off?”

“Just about.” Finn clapped her on the back. “I was saying my goodbyes to Hux.”

“Oh?” Rey looked between the two. “We’ll see you when we reach Exegol. It won’t be long.” She dropped her belongings and threw her arms around Finn. “Safe travels, yeah?”

“Yeah, Rey. Safe travels.” 

Finn left, and they were alone. 

“FN-2187 is so friendly.”

“Stop.” She rolled her eyes and strode passed him.

“He really knows how to deliver a good speech.”

“Is that so?” Rey set down her things on a bunk in the Main Hold. “Well, I don’t need his protection from you or from anyone. How’s that for a speech?”

“It dragged in the middle, but not bad.” 

She chucked her bag at his chest. 

He caught it. Training with her had sharpened his reflexes more than they’d ever been. “Careful, simple scavenger girl from Jakku. We wouldn’t want anyone to realize you were some Big Bad Jedi or the like.” 

She laughed. She threw her head back and laughed. 

Hux smiled too. In fact, he started chuckling. She was infectious, he’d learned. It was why she’d come to lead the Resistance. It was why she would defeat their enemy.

“You’re not what I expected at all, Armitage Hux, the disgraced General from the First Order.”

“The orphan boy from the Corellian sector.”

Her mouth opened. She blinked. “You’re really Corellian?”

“From Pamarthe actually.” It was the truth, the orphan thing too. What was he doing?

She nodded, walking away and then looking at him over her shoulder. “Armitage Hux, the orphan, Pamarthan boy.”

* * *

DAY 110

They were just reaching the edge of the Unknown Regions. Chewie had put them on autopilot around 20 parsecs ago. 

A familiar hush fell over her. Out in the nothingness of space, all sense of time seemed to evaporate. 

Hux’s chair squeaked behind her. She thought he’d fallen asleep. Chewie’d been out for hours. 

“What would you and Ren talk about on the force-bridge?”

She turned her chair to face him. “What kind of question is that?”

“One I want to know the answer to.”

“Where did it even come from?”

“My arse, Rey.”

She crossed her arms. 

His face was stoic, his voice quiet. 

“He . . . he’d talk to me. He wanted to learn where I was while I was training with Luke. I figured he most wanted to hurt his old master.” 

His brow barely moved. “What else did you talk about?”

“The force. The light and the dark sides.” She sunk deep into the co-pilot seat. “I tried to convince him to abandon his anger. He tried to convince me to abandon my morals.” 

“Morals?”

“To leave the Resistance and join him.”

“That’s it? Discussions of Jedi lore with no foray into the land of innuendo?”

“No.” She crossed her legs. This was truly the strangest conversation they’d ever shared. “You saw yourself that I was ignorant of his feelings for me. How could that be if we’d been flirting via force-bond for weeks?”

“Mmm.” He leaned forwards. “It’s just that you’re too nice of a person. I can imagine Ren getting the wrong idea.”

“Are you kidding me? Was I so nice that I flashed him my tits and told him he was sexy, but somehow didn’t realize that would be misinterpreted?”

His eyes opened wide. 

“Get fucked, Hux.” She spun her chair away from him. “I’m not some stupid scavenger girl stumbling into relationships with broken men.” 

“Okay.” She felt him stand behind her. “I’m sorry. It’s just he’s so adamant when it comes to you.” 

“He’s an evil psychopath.”

“I know.” His profile entered her peripheral vision. Chewie snored loudly. “It bothers me. You’re not his.” 

Her pulse began to pique. She inhaled the scent of Hux. It still wasn’t unpleasant. “I’m not anyone’s. Women, any people, aren’t possessions.” 

“I know that. I don’t mean in a possessive way. I mean—” he sighed. “It’s your niceness. It’s your laugh. You’re special, and that isn’t meant for everyone. He doesn’t deserve a second of it, your Rey-ness.”

“Hux.” She turned the chair to face him again, and her knees knocked against his. 

He loomed over her, eyes focused and steady. They were in a claustrophobic, rickety, filthy cockpit with Chewbacca, but her breath caught in her throat. “Stop being so nice to me,” she whispered. 

His lips twitched, a smile appearing just there. “I don’t know whose you are, Rey, but you’re definitely not his.”

That night, it was harder than ever to resist the urge to crawl into his bunk. 

* * *

DAY 112

Ren wasn’t at Exegol. 

“We’ll catch him, Rey,” Finn assured. 

“Yeah.” 

Hux was ducking her look, but he felt her eyes on him just the same. 

She was beside him on his bunk as soon as the Falcon hit light speed. “Tell me what you think. Finn’s too kind to tell me the truth.”

Her skin was smudged with the grime of Exegol’s surface. Her hair was half out of its braid and wild about her shoulders. He had to take a breath. He was in trouble. Deep. “I still believe you’re the only one who can stop him.”

She punched the bunk. “It feels like he’s slipping away. Our element of surprise disappears every day.”

“Is he force-bonding with you?”

“Not at all.” Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t understand. I thought this would work.” 

“Maybe”—the kernel of an idea, a Very Dangerous Idea, took root in his mind—“maybe you should let him through?”

“What?” She stared at him. “Why would I ever do that?”

“The element of surprise.” He cleared his throat. “That night he’d tried to cross the bridge: what had he wanted to catch?”

Her face turned red. “Are we going to have sex just to trigger Kylo Ren?”

“No,” Hux spluttered. “No, I’m not—” he stood and smashed his head into the ceiling. “Mother fucker!”

“Hux.” She smoothed a hand on his head as he sat back down. “Relax. I don’t think you’re having a go at me.” 

“I’m not. If I were, I would do it any night when we’re not deep in discussion about hunting our enemy. Believe me, if I were, it wouldn’t be with Kylo Ren as voyeur.” 

“Alright, alright.” She half-heartedly smacked his arm. “You’ve quite made your point.”

He exhaled. “He hasn’t fully spiralled yet. That’s why . . . I don’t think he believes it. The ceremony and the article were good, but they weren’t perfect.” 

Rey watched him. 

“You also promptly blocked his force-bond when he found you in a dead sleep fairly early on the night after your wedding. He probably didn’t even know I was there.”

She bit her lip. “Shit. He totally doesn’t buy it.”

“Probably not.” A warm, deep heat began to simmer in his belly. 

“I should open it then? Maybe . . . fool around with you or whatever while he watches until he gets really, really, really—”

“Angry.”

“Yeah.”

“That was sort of my idea.”

She folded her palms in her lap. “I’m filthy. I should probably dive into the fresher and—”

“No. This way we’ll look so desperate for each other and unconcerned with him. We didn’t catch him, but we don’t give a fuck.” He took a breath, imagination beginning to spin out of control. “We just want each other.”

Her eyes were wide. They kept flicking down to his mouth. “Okay,” she breathed and climbed onto his lap. 

“Alright. Yes, just hop on,” he said against her soft, busy lips. 

“Shut up. I needed to act when I had the nerve.” She lowered down fully onto him. His dick was so hard it was painful. She shivered as soon as she made contact. 

“Is the bond open?” He managed. He might pass out.

“Wide. Open.” 

Fucking hell. Her tongue touched his. “How will I know when he’s here? To really sell it?”

“I’ll moan,” she whispered. “I’ll move against you.”

“Rey, please don’t.” Please do. Please don’t. He was nearing death.

She smiled and bit his lip. “Your lap is saying something very different from your mouth.”

Yep. He was officially dead. 

“Yes,” she moaned, hot against his mouth. Her hips began to move. 

His eyes rolled back into his head. Ren was watching, but he honestly didn’t give a fuck. He was careening through an asteroid field at light speed with Rey at the helm. The entire First Order Superior Staff could enter the Hold, and he’d be unable to stop. 

“Hux,” she breathed into his mouth. “Armitage.” 

“Rey,” he answered. He lay back against the bunk. Her weight on top of him was magical. 

She reached for his palm and pressed it against her breast. His hips flinched and bucked against her. She released a gasp of surprise. “Shit,” she hissed. 

It heated his blood. He wanted to hear it again. He bucked. “Rey,” he whispered and took her earlobe into his mouth. She tasted like salt and light. She smelled like sex. 

Her mouth crushed against his. Her movements took on a new, jerky intensity. 

“Yes,” he urged. “Don’t stop.” Please don’t fucking stop. 

“Shit,” she whimpered again. “I don’t think I can.”

“Don’t.” 

“Hux.” 

“Keep going.” 

Four more seconds, three more seconds. One more hard, stilted sweep of her hips. He was ruined. He released it all into his pants as she let out the softest cry and collapsed against him. 

The air around them stilled. Holy fucking shit. He’d just come. She’d just come. He looked at her. Had Kylo Ren watched the whole thing?

Moments went by, and she didn’t move. “Rey?” He rubbed a hand up her arm. “Are you alright? Did it work?”

“Which part?” She dissolved into laughter against his shoulder. 

A smile erupted on his face. “You are absolutely filthy.”

She lifted her head. “It worked. It really worked.” 

Impossibly, his dick began to spring back to life. “I don’t know if I should celebrate or mourn the fact that Kylo Ren witnessed me rut against you like a teenage boy.”

“Oh, he left in a fit of rage after you touched my tits.”

“Really?” Hux propped himself up on his elbow. “Colour me shocked because we certainly didn’t stop there.”

She gazed at him through her lashes. “We couldn’t be too careful. He could’ve come back.”

“I like the way you think, young padawan.” 

Rey nudged him. “Padawan? That’s my line.” 

“So it is.” He smiled. More than ever, he understood. Ren’s obsession was now the only rational thing about him. 

Who wouldn’t fall for Rey the scavenger girl from Jakku?

* * *

DAY 113

That night she did crawl into his bunk. 

* * *

DAY 115

Jedis were just better at sex. That was why he couldn’t seem to tear himself from the private bunk they’d created in the Number Two Hold. 

“Chewie!” She called into the radio. “How many more parsecs until we reach Korriban?”

“At least fifty,” he responded in his Wookie call. 

“Brilliant,” he said against the smooth expanse of her shoulder.

“I can’t begin to imagine how we’ll pass the time.” She pressed her lips to the spot where his neck met his jaw. “Maybe I should return to my co-pilot duties just in case?”

“You know you act all kind and compassionate, but you’re actually a sadist. You love toying with me.” 

“It is really fun.” 

He tucked some hair behind her ear. “Then I’m yours to torment.” 

Her eyes melted. She kissed him, and he felt like the only man in the galaxy. 

* * *

DAY 120

In the end, Ren was easy to defeat. 

She’d wielded her weapon with an inhuman skill. 

Ren had slashed and charged with an unbridled hate. 

She’d disarmed him. She’d offered him her hand. 

Hux reacted before he’d even realized he’d spotted the dagger hidden between Ren’s fingers. The blast hit the man square between his eyes. The Great Apprentice crumpled in a heap. Rey sliced him through his middle as he fell. 

All was still. Then, she turned. She bounded towards him. She jumped into his arms. “Hux.”

“It’s over.” He kissed her cheek, her temple. “It’s all over.” It didn’t feel like he thought it would. It wasn’t an overwhelming triumph or a sense of domination. It was a relief. It was a peaceful freedom. 

His thumb smoothed over her cheek. It didn’t compare one iota to the feeling of Rey the Jedi in his arms. 

* * *

DAY 150

He kissed his way across her stomach, over her bellybutton. 

She stretched. 

He paused. “Wait. Wasn’t there once talk of a Dissolution Agreement?”

She flicked his head. 

“Yes, it’s all coming back to me.” He nipped at her hip bone. “‘You think I’d have any desire to remain with you a second longer than necessary?’”

“That was forever ago.”

“Cold comfort.” 

She exhaled in exasperation. 

He smiled. 

Her lips tugged upwards. “It’s all your fault, you know. You’re too good of an actor with too perfect teeth and too normal a smell. You told me about my special Rey-ness.”

“Rewind—” he put up his hand. “Too normal of a smell? What now?”

“The First Order should smell like sulfur and old nappies.” 

“Well, scum should smell like space junk and not warm vanilla and woman.” 

Her smile grew. It pierced the whole room. It was so, achingly bright. “It’s cause I really like the fresher.” 

“Is it a desert thing?”

“Mm hmm.” She rolled onto her stomach. “For years it was nothing but dryness and grit. I love water. I can’t get enough of it.” 

“Pamarthe has plenty of water. We trained on watercrafts before piloting traditional ships.” 

“You were a pilot?”

His eyes moved over her body, the naked, stunning form of his wife. “You gonna let me fly the Falcon?”

“You gonna file for a Dissolution Agreement?”

He’d once believed she was the author of all of his problems. Her lips met his. She was the worthless wench who’d bewitched the lone Sith hope for the First Order. She was his enemy. She was his captor. Smart, strong, kind. She was his wife. She was his—“No, I’m not. I love you, Rey.” 

She kissed him again. “I know.” 

* * *

FIVE SECONDS LATER

“And, I love you too.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. See? I’m more useful than you’ve ever known.” 

* * *

Hope you liked it :). Leave a kudos or comment if you feel so inclined.


End file.
